Summary of meeting with State Auditors Office
January 2, 2004
prepared by DiAnna Brannan, Christian Homeschool Network

In attendance:
The Scott Brannan family- Christian Homeschool Network
Brian Sonntag- State Auditor
Chuck Pfeil- Deputy State Auditor, Director of Audit
Jim Brittain- Deputy State Auditor, Director of Operations
Louella Adams-Audit Manager

Discussed the report done by CHN regarding our concerns with the Alternative Learning Programs. The State Auditors Office has become aware of many of the misuses within the program. They have tried to work within the Alternative Learning Program community to educate them on what they can and cannot do. As a result they started a statewide audit of the programs this year. They selected a cross-section of 27 Parent Partnership Program sites to audit. Their report will be done early summer. They had no preliminary findings at this time.

Mr Sonntag said some of our concerns were more an issue for the legislature, they can only enforce the laws and WAC. It is within the scope of WAC 392-121-182 to allow full-time funding for only one to five hours a week on-site, and allotment money.

This year their audit is focusing on section #1 of WAC 392-121-182. This includes; if the site has a board policy, written student learning plan, curriculum approved by the school district, student’s education process, and correctly documented students hours (for FTE funding).

Next year they will focus on how the education dollars are spent. This includes the allotment monies given to parents by some sites. One of the auditors was very aware of the misuses. The way the WAC is written, a parent can purchase items, classes, etc. as long as it is in the student learning plan.

Basically, the only assistance that their office could offer was the findings in their report due out this summer, and to continue to enforce the compliance of the Alternative Learning WAC. We believe this report will only validate many of our concerns and claims. The fact that they have launched an investigation into the programs shows that there are serious operational problems.

We found this meeting to be very informative for all of us. The bottom line is, OSPI has been allowed to have free reign on determining the definition of a full-time student and these programs are a result of letting the fox guard the hen house- to the tune of millions! This reality was frustrating to all of us in this meeting.